Pages

Friday, July 6, 2012

My first real taste of mental fatigue...

I've felt it before after long days at work, but tonight, trying in vain to break down the wall that is open guard, was the first time I felt sharp decline in my mental performance.

I'd rolled lightly once with one of the kids, then spent 6 minutes getting mercilessly handled by GinasticaInstructor. Third roll of the night was with JazzHands. Physically I felt fine and mentally...well I'd taken today off work in an effort to fake a long weekend after the weird, Wednesday 4th of July. My mind was fresh and free and ready.

So I see JazzHands' open guard as this...wall where chokes and armbars shoot out from nowhere. First round, I did ok, even got close to passing. He caught me in...something that involved me not breathing and we reset. And I crashed. And he noticed. And I tapped. Rinse and repeat. And repeat.

"What happened? You really had it for a while there but then you lost your concentration" ...and here I thought only I noticed that.

I could feel my mind crash after that first go 'round and knew exactly what he was talking about. I don't even have a reason...be it fatigue of the intensity of rolling with GinasticaInstructor or me mentally tensing and exhausting myself over frustrations with open guard...doesn't matter. The only real issue is that if this keeps happening, I think it's going to become a bigger blow to my ego than any amount of gassing out ever could be.

5 comments:

That just happens sometimes. You can learn to identify (and avoid) some of the triggers. You can also get better at noticing when you reach this point- there's a point where the Law Of Diminishing Returns kicks in and you really need to just stop flailing/grinding and take a break (or call it a night).

It sounds like you have good awareness. That's all you need. Loosing concentration and having mental fatigue is a natural part of life, so why wouldn't it be part of jiu jitsu? You just happen to be honest enough to talk about it but believe me it happens to everyone. Notice it and notice what it does to you and your ego, then smile and carry on ;)

"Loosing concentration and having mental fatigue is a natural part of life, so why wouldn't it be part of jiu jitsu?" ...b...but...yeah. That's a big weakness of mine. Judging my limitations and fatigue. I sometimes think I'm getting worse at it with age since there's so much less structure in life.

Savage...when you mentioned sitting out for the night after mental fatigue...honestly, the first time I read it it didn't even register. Such a thing never occurred to me. I think I consider myself to be some kind of mental work horse/ultra marathoner, so I don't how long it would take for me to be able to do that.

Hang in there, cause this is normal.You're going to have great days, where everything worked and bad days where everything you do is crap. Its all part of the process.Just take a step back and focus on an area that you're weak in.

Savage...when you mentioned sitting out for the night after mental fatigue...honestly, the first time I read it it didn't even register. Such a thing never occurred to me. I think I consider myself to be some kind of mental work horse/ultra marathoner, so I don't how long it would take for me to be able to do that.--------Same here, but I have experienced a point on occasion where I was just too frustrated/distracted/tired/whatever, and the harder I would grind, the worse I would perform. After trying to deal with this phenomenon in various fashions, I found that I really need to just step back and recognize when that point has been reached, and take a little break. Sometimes I can just get a drink and walk some laps or something for a few minutes, and then I feel like I can buckle down again. Sometimes the focus just continues to be elusive, and I have to say, "I'm just going to get back to this tomorrow when I'm fresher."

About Me

I travel the globe when I can because I love learning languages and food. I hold a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and train at American Top Team. I love to write and have done work for business publications, educational journals and ghost blog writing. I want to change what it means to have an MBA and I follow Christ. In other news, I find holes in revenue streams.